m. c. de marco

For some time now, I've been a little bit worried about a few of the decisions Nomi and I make when it comes to raising Muffin and Squeaker. For example, given their age they can be very stubborn at times and throw tantrums if they don't get their way. This can lead to us "giving in" when it just seems easier and minor. If Squeaker wants to sit on my lap during dinner, is that a battle I really need to fight? It's far more important to make sure that the kids brush their teeth before going to bed, isn't it? Shouldn't I focus my energy there, rather than on requiring them to wear pajamas in bed instead of the day's clothing if they really want to?

In our latest The Brookline Parent column at Brookline Patch, I explore a few of the decisions we've made (or are in the process of making), and ask if our Bad Parenting really is so bad.

If you go read the column, you'll find out at least one secret that's liable to get us in trouble in the future.

Or you could click the link to Bad Parenting to see a picture of Muffin and Squeaker on my iPad...and eating cookies for dinner.

Over on his blog, Jamie Todd Rubin noted that he had read a novella yesterday that he subsequently added to his Nebula ballot. He said, "I'd easily put it in the top ten novellas that I ever read."

That novella: "The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary" by Ken Liu.

Since I take Jamie's recommendations strongly, I followed his link to Ken Liu's stories and read the story. Jamie had said nothing more about the story, and so I went in with no expectations save the one that this was going to be a good story.

I'm with Jamie. It's one of the most powerful stories I've ever read. I don't think it would give too much away to say that as I read it, I found myself comparing it to my own "Kaddish for the Last Survivor" and feeling that it was so much better. If "Kaddish" was a story of mine you found of interest because of its themes and overall subject matter, you should read Liu's story.

I spent six years teaching at the Cambridge School of Weston, and I made many friends among my colleagues and students. One of those friends was Brian F. Walker, who was in the English department and also worked in admissions in the time I was there.


Brian F. Walker, Michael A. Burstein Photo copyright ©2012 J. Pickard. All rights reserved.


Brian and I bonded over the fact that we were both writers. While I was writing science-fiction short stories, Brian was working on a YA novel based partly on his own experiences growing up in East Cleveland and attending a private school in New England.

That novel, Black Boy White School, has finally been published by HarperTeen, and last night Brian had a signing at The Elephant Walk in Cambridge. I wasn't sure if I would be able to get to it, as it meant making sure that the girls went to bed early or on time. As it is, thanks to Nomi, I managed to make it out the door in time to get to the signing late. I missed Brian's reading, but I had a chance to see him, talk for a few minutes, and get my copy of his novel autographed.


Black Boy White School by Brian F. Walker


I'm only halfway through the book, but I'm enjoying it immensely. The novel is about Anthony "Ant" Jones, an African-American teenager from East Cleveland who earns a scholarship to Belton Academy, a prep school in Maine. It's fascinating to read about Ant's experiences in these two different worlds, both of which are very different from the world I experienced as a teenager. Ant is dealing with the usual issues of adolescence, of course, but layered on top of that are the problems specific to a black teenager from a rough neighborhood trying to make it in an elite white world. I can't wait to find out what happens to him.

Five years ago today, I posted this entry.

Five years ago this morning, my mother, Eleanor Mae Cohen Burstein, died. She was 70 years old when she died, and I had just had a message from her the day before in which she sounded fine.

I don't really have much to say about her passing today. I've thought about discussing her life a little bit; as many of my friends know, Mom attended Mount Holyoke, Barnard, and Columbia Law School, and in her later years worked as an Administrative Law Judge. She died before she got to meet my children, but she did get to enjoy some of her other grandchildren before she passed on. Although today is the anniversary of her passing on the Gregorian calendar, her yahrzeit is next Sunday night and Monday, so that's when I'll be saying kaddish for her.

At the time she died, Nomi and I had just joined Kadimah-Toras Moshe, and I remember how everyone came together for us, although many in the community barely knew who we were.

Anyway. I just felt compelled to note her passing, and that I miss her still.

Now is the Winter of Our Discontent, made glorious summer by...the unseasonable weather?

In our latest The Brookline Parent column at Brookline Patch, Nomi discusses what it has been like for Muffin and Squeaker (and us) in a winter that up to now has been rather mild. Ironically, the column comes out just in time for us to find snow on the ground...

Among the many things you'll find out if you read the column is how a friend's stuffed bear helped us convince Squeaker that yes, she really does want to wear her coat when the temperature is below freezing.

Anyway, go read Now is the Winter of Our Discontent, for the cute pictures if nothing else.

As I noted over on the savepluto LiveJournal blog, six years ago today the New Horizons spacecraft was launched toward Pluto. Hard to believe we're only three and a half years away from seeing Pluto up close...

The rain yesterday and this morning reminds me that I've been meaning to ask folks if anyone could recommend a good umbrella.

For many years, I've mostly bought relatively inexpensive umbrellas when I need a new one. What I've found, though, is that they tend to be of low quality, usually not lasting very long. A few months ago, I bought a brand-new umbrella at a local drug store to use that week; the very day I opened it, the umbrella fell apart, and I returned it for a refund.

I've been using the same umbrella for years, but one of the spokes is no longer connected to the material, and it's beginning to stick as I open it. I'd really like to get it replaced, and as soon as possible.

Ideally, I'd want an umbrella that can fold up relatively small so I can tuck it under my arm or carry it in a bag when it's dry. Also, it would be nice for it to come with a bag for storing when it is wet and I want to toss it into a bag. But what's more important to me is that it opens up easily, opens up large, and will last. Also, if I can order it on-line, that would be a help; when I went scouring local stores for umbrellas, the selection was sparse.

If anyone has an umbrella to recommend, I'd appreciate it.

So, as some of you already know, Nomi and I took the last week of 2011 as vacation (well, mostly; Nomi was still checking in with the office). Nowadays, when we take vacation is primarily decided by when our babysitter takes vacation, as we can't exactly traipse off to work and leave the kids to fend for themselves.

As I've noted before, possibly beyond the point of obviousness, having to take care of two toddlers changes the dynamic considerably. One's time is no longer one's own. Children demand constant attention, and if you don't give it to them, they will insist on it in various, um, amusing ways.

So in our latest The Brookline Parent column at Brookline Patch, I discuss what it was like to spend A Week With Twins in Brookline. Fortunately, Brookline has some "exceptional" playgrounds, as noted by Erin Chute Gallentine, our director of Parks and Open Space. And the weather was clear, if cold. If Muffin and Squeaker hadn't had the chance to run around during the week, they probably would have ended up bouncing off the walls – and we don't live in free fall, so it would have hurt.

Anyway, go read A Week With Twins in Brookline, for the cute pictures if nothing else.

Nomi and I haven't managed to attend Arisia since before Muffin and Squeaker came into our lives. We've wanted to, but the logistics seemed rather insurmountable. (We've also mostly missed Boskone and Readercon, although in 2010 we made it to the Sunday of each.)

Arisia is coming up this month, though, and with all the chatter I've been seeing about it, I've become wistful. Nomi and I discussed it, and we're seriously considering trying to attend on the Sunday of the convention. If we day-trip the convention, we'll have to figure out the answers to these questions:

1. Do we take Muffin and Squeaker?
1.a. If not, who takes care of them for the day?
1.b. If so, how do we get them to and from the hotel?

2. If we take Muffin and Squeaker, what costumes should they wear? :-)

Any and all suggestions are welcome.

Over on the Tor.com website, kradical has been blogging a re-watch of the entire Star Trek: The Next Generation series. Keith has just gotten to the episode "Yesterday's Enterprise", and it prompted me to reply about how important that episode was for me.

Here's what I said:

Keith, I'm delighted that you finally reached "Yesterday's Enterprise," which I consider probably the best episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation (although it sometimes gets edged out by "The Best of Both Worlds"). I've been waiting for this opportunity to tell you that "Yesterday's Enterprise" is the reason I started watching Star Trek again. I hope you will indulge me.

You might recall that I mentioned in one or two of my other responses to your re-watches that I missed much of the early Next Generation episodes and eventually had to catch up with them in reruns and the like. There's a reason for this. TNG premiered in syndication the same year I entered college, and given how busy I was, if I was going to make a point of watching any television show on schedule it had to captivate me. Not only would I have to give it my time because I was getting accustomed to a college workload (studying Physics, already a tough field that required a lot of study), but I would also have to find the show on a channel in an unfamiliar city.

The fact that there was a new Star Trek show on did interest me of course; how could it not? My memory tells me that I did manage to catch "Encounter at Farpoint," "The Naked Now," and one or two other episodes from season one when they were first broadcast, but I found them, well, lacking. In the end, I wrote off the new Star Trek series as not worthy of my time or attention. Ironically, channel 56 in the Boston area still showed the original series in syndication five nights a week, just before dinner time, and my roommates and I tended to watch it before traipsing off to the dining hall. The new show was there, but we were still much more interested in re-watching the original.

Flash forward to my junior year. I found myself at home in New York City during some break (perhaps it was spring break? I don't recall) and if I recall correctly, my brothers weren't at home, just my parents, so I had a lot of free time. Glancing through TV Guide, I noticed that Star Trek: The Next Generation was going to be on in the afternoon on channel 11, and since I did like science fiction and Star Trek and I had nothing better to do, I decided I might as well catch the episode. I went upstairs to my bedroom, where we had a small color television set, and I lay on my bed and watched the show.

The episode was "Yesterday's Enterprise."

The moment the teaser ended, my jaw hit the floor (metaphorically speaking). I said to myself, "Okay, this is interesting," and watched the entire episode, my eyes glued to the set (again, a metaphor). As the final credits rolled, I realized that the show had become good, possibly great, and I made a point of keeping up with it from then on.

I often think about the inflection points in life, the events that change our pathways and set us on certain courses. It's possible that had I missed that broadcast of the show, I might have come back to TNG anyway; but had channel 11 been showing an episode like the previous one, or a season one repeat, I might very well have simply given up on the show again. And while Trek is not necessarily the reason I became a science-fiction writer, as I did read and watch a lot of other SF, I can't deny that it has had a lot of influence on my path.

"Yesterday's Enterprise" was tailor-made to appeal to me. I love time-travel stories, and one in which an entire alternative timeline is posited and then erased, with no one the wiser, resonates with me more than almost any other type of science-fiction conceit. I'm still sometimes amazed that they managed to pull it off.

I might have considered posting about what Isaac Asimov would be doing if he had lived to be 92 years old today, which is his birthday. However, Jamie Todd Rubin has already written what I would have, so you can just go read it and cross out Jamie's name and write mine in:

Isaac Asimov at 92

If you want to read about my own interactions with Asimov, you can read the article Asimov and Me that I published in the fanzine Mimosa in 1997. (If that link doesn't work, use this one.

I haven't been very good about blogging over the past year or so, and I chalk it up to a variety of factors. I have found Facebook easier for brief updates on my life and the sharing of things I find on the Internet, which tends to preclude my posting here. (I use Twitter and Google Plus as well, but not as much.) Furthermore, as I read the many things that others share, I tend to wonder if my own musings are really of great interest to the surrounding world. So many times when I think about sharing something, I freeze up and in the end choose not to post at all.

There's also the fact that I haven't done much fiction writing this past year, and whenever I sit down to blog a nagging voice in the back of my head berates me (or perhaps it chastises me) for using the writing time for blogging instead of fiction. Time is a major issue, what with Muffin and Squeaker pretty much needing our attention in almost all their waking hours. Add that to the day job, and to the other things that occupy my life (local politics, shul, etc.), and in the end I feel as if the moments slip away too quickly for me to attend to them.

Many others have used the Gregorian New Year to look back at 2011 and summarize what they did. The fact is, I can't remember much of what I did. Muffin and Squeaker had a birthday, of course, and my aunt Miriam passed away, and Nomi got a new job, but on a day-to-day basis my life was mostly going to work and taking care of the kids. I'm not sure how interesting that would be to post about every day. ("Still not king.") Besides, Nomi and I have the bi-weekly column at Brookline Patch to fill folks in on the adventures of our lives with Muffin and Squeaker.

This is also a time people make resolutions for the new year. If I were to do so, I'd probably resolve to write more fiction, maybe to get back into the groove. I'd also possibly resolve to blog more (I see many others have mentioned that on their blogs). In the end, I think that all I'll be able to do is try. I hope I succeed.

I missed a month of my Apex Blog, but I'm sort of keeping up the time travel theme. Today, I discuss what I discovered when I re-read the Robert A. Heinlein novel Stranger in a Strange Land last week, getting my re-read just under the wire for the book's 50th anniversary.

So does this novel from 1961 hold up in 2011? Click the link for my thoughts:

Stranger in a Strange Land: A Personal Reflection on the Fiftieth Anniversary

In our latest The Brookline Parent column at Brookline Patch, Nomi discusses how Muffin and Squeaker celebrate Chanukah. You'd think that they only celebrate Chanukah during the same eight days that the rest of us do, but you'd be wrong. For Muffin and Squeaker, Chanukah is celebrated all year round.

Here's the link to the column this week, Not Even Eight is Enough. Enjoy! And while you're there or here, are there any other holidays you know of that people celebrate all throughout the year?

In our latest The Brookline Parent column at Brookline Patch, I recommend shopping locally for your gifts this holiday season. As Nomi and I (and Muffin and Squeaker) live in Brookline, I focus on Brookline stores. Three of the stores – Brookline Booksmith, The Tiny Hanger, and New England Comics – provided some specific recommendations for gifts for toddlers, and I've included them in the article. Other stores I mention include The Children's Book Shop, Magic Beans, Henry Bear's Park, and Eureka Puzzles and Games.

Here's the link to the column this week, Think Globally, Shop Locally. Enjoy!

My aunt Miriam Burstein, who was born on February 3, 1926, died tonight (December 4) around 10 pm. Miriam was a member of the Hunter College High School Class of 1941 and taught at Hunter from 1946 until 1981. I've posted on the Hunter groups on Facebook and LinkedIn, and I'll have more information tomorrow.

Miriam was in hospice care for the last six months of her life, and many of her former students got in touch to let her know how much she had meant to them. I'm very grateful she had a chance to hear all that before she passed on.

In our latest The Brookline Parent column at Brookline Patch, Nomi takes on the subject of what we have done with Muffin and Squeaker for all of their Thanksgivings. This is the first year they've really been able to understand what the holiday is about, which I prepared them for with a "Dora the Explorer" book about Thanksgiving.

Go read Muffin and Squeaker Give Thanks to extend your holiday celebration!

Giving thanks publicly for the things for which I am truly grateful always makes me feel a little self-conscious. I become overly aware of the blessings I have that others do not, and I wonder if I should be more sensitive to the friends and fans of mine (I think I still have fans) who don't necessarily have the same things I do.

But then I realize that we all have things for which we are grateful, and it is good for me to pause and reflect on my blessings. So, for Thanksgiving Day 2011, a short list.

I am thankful for how my parents raised me, giving me opportunities in life that have allowed to me to work toward my potential.

I am thankful for the education I received, both formal and informal.

I am thankful for the many years I taught and was able to work with and influence students. I feel an odd paternal pride when I read about their accomplishments, and I am grateful that they choose to stay in touch.

I am thankful for the writing career I have had up until this point, and I hope that I manage to continue to write stories that entertain people and make them think.

I am thankful that I am reasonably healthy and employed.

Most of all, I am thankful for my family, particularly for my wonderful wife and two beautiful daughters, who have brought so much joy to my life.

In my latest The Brookline Parent column at Brookline Patch, I posit that Muffin and Squeaker, being the children of a science-fiction writer, are sensitive to the future.

I also note the lack of sleep we got last week. :-)

Go read What Sleep May Come to see what I'm talking about....